Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods

"Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods"
South Park episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 11
Directed by	Trey Parker
Written by	Trey Parker David Goodman
Production code	211
Original air date	September 2, 1998
Episode chronology
← Previous "Chickenpox" Next → "Clubhouses"
South Park (season 2) List of South Park episodes

"Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" is the eleventh episode of the second season of the animated television series South Park, and the 24th episode of the series overall. "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" originally aired in the United States on September 2, 1998 on Comedy Central. This episode spoofs the Star Trek episode "Dagger of the Mind".

Plot

The class goes on a bus trip to the local planetarium. Cartman is tempted by a Cheesy Poofs truck outside, auditioning kids to sing the Cheesy Poofs song on their next TV advertisement. The kids all think they will hate the planetarium, but after watching the star show, they want to go back again after the field trip. Not only do they go back, they all start volunteering to work at the planetarium. This turns out to be because the director is using a brainwashing device on them.

Cartman sings the Cheesy Poofs song and then gets selected to sing it on TV, after cheating and browbeating his way past the other contestants. His performance is so bad, though, that only one word of it is used in the final advertisement. ("lame", with Cartman in a ridiculous Cheesy Poof costume)

In the meantime, school counselor Mr. Mackey, who uses an ancient school counselor technique called a "mind meld", and school nurse Nurse Gollum have learned of the mind control device through a kid who escaped the planetarium named Van Gelder. They race to stop Dr. Adams, and a showdown occurs at the planetarium, with Stan, Kyle, Mr. Mackey and Nurse Gollum against Dr. Adams and Officer Barbrady (brainwashed to believe that he is Elvis). The boys, Mackey, and Nurse Gollum are successfully captured, tied down, and brainwashed into forgetting everything they found out.

However, in the middle of the process, Cartman, angry at the other boys for missing his commercial debut, kicks the star projector, sending the full blast of the mind control machine into Dr. Adams' brain. With no one around to say anything, Dr. Adams becomes a mindless shell collapsed against the back wall, which fascinates Kyle and Stan. Cartman is elated that he not only was on TV, but saved the day as well. At the end, Liane is still telling Eric not to "pick his nose."

External links

• "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" Full Episode at South Park Studios
• "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" Episode Guide At South Park Studios
• "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" at TV.com